Through a case
study of scientific research on opium addiction in early
twentieth-century Manchuria, the epicenter of the global narcotic
economy, I trace the changing ways in which colonial medicine was used
to legitimate Japanese imperialism. From a justification of empire,
research on addiction was transformed into a source of validation for
the Manchukuo nation-state. Distinctive practices, including the
establishment of local, world-class laboratories and the training of
subjects as scientists, highlight the relative importance of colonial
medicine to Japanese imperialism, compared to the West.